Li’l Bit’s Mother Character Analysis in How I Learned to Drive

Li’l Bit’s mother appears intermittently in the play and is acted by the Female Greek Chorus. She portrays a distrusting attitude towards men, seemingly based on her bad relationship with Li’l Bit’s father (who is entirely absent from the play). Like her own mother, Li’l Bit’s grandmother, she ultimately believes that what happens to women is their own responsibility. This plays out in the darkly comic interjections by Li’l Bit’s mother on the topic of female decorum, in which she memorably instructs Li’l Bit to avoid any alcoholic drinks with “sugar, or anything with an umbrella” and to “drink, instead, like a man.” As a character, then, Li’l Bit’s mother consistently reinforces the gender imbalances of the status quo. This has its most grave consequence when, in one of the play’s last scenes (which is actually one of the earliest chronologically in Li’l Bit’s life), she approves Li’l Bit’s request to spend more time with Uncle Peck despite being suspicious of his motives towards her daughter—“if anything happens,” she tells Li’l Bit, “I hold you responsible.”

Li’l Bit’s Mother Quotes in How I Learned to Drive

The How I Learned to Drive quotes below are all either spoken by Li’l Bit’s Mother or refer to Li’l Bit’s Mother . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

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FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As mother). And of course, we were so excited to have a baby girl that when the nurse brought you in and said, “It’s a girl! It’s a baby girl!” I just had to see for myself. So we whipped your diapers down and parted your chubby little legs — and right between your legs there was—(Peck has come over during the above and chimes along:)
PECK. GREEK CHORUS.
Just a little bit. Just a little bit.

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As mother). And when you were born, you were so tiny that you fit in Uncle Peck’s outstretched hand. (Peck stretches his hand out.)

Related Characters: Uncle Peck (speaker), Female Greek Chorus (speaker), Li’l Bit’s Mother (speaker), Li’l Bit

Page Number and Citation: 12-13

Explanation and Analysis:

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As Mother.) I am not letting an eleven-year-old girl spend seven hours alone in the car with a man... I don’t like the way your uncle looks at you.

LI’L BIT. For god’s sake, mother! Just because you’ve gone through a bad time with my father — you think every man is evil!

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As Mother.) Oh no, Li’l Bit not all men... We... we just haven’t been very lucky with the men in our family.

LI’L BIT. Just because you lost your husband — I still deserve a chance at having a father! Someone! A man who will look out for me! Don’t I get a chance?

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As Mother.) I will feel terrible if something happens.

LI’L BIT. Mother! It’s in your head! Nothing will happen! I can take care of myself. And I can certainly handle Uncle Peck.

FEMALE GREEK CHORUS. (As Mother.) All right. But I’m warning you — if anything happens, I hold you responsible.

Related Characters: Li’l Bit (speaker), Female Greek Chorus (speaker), Li’l Bit’s Mother (speaker), Uncle Peck

Related Symbols: Driving/Cars

Page Number and Citation: 55-56

Explanation and Analysis: